. >> reporter: the land nato liberated from moammar gadhafi is now home to multiple training camps for potential terrorists. >> islamist militants sympathetic to al qaeda have established safe havens in several parts of libya. >> reporter: benghazi, where americans were targeted and four killed is just one of the strongholds, but the camps are spread throughout the country. libyan officials tell cnn terrorism analyst paul cro crookshank. >> amongst those numbers are people with direct alexandres to al qaeda. >> three training camps in the desert near the algerian border. that's only 30 miles from the gas complex that's still under siege. a u.s. official tells cnn the militants who seized american hostages likely crossed that border to carry out their attack. >> libya is a lesson in what the international community can achieve. >> reporter: president obama called the limited operation in libya is recipe for the future. >> not single u.s. troop was on the ground. >> reporter: but that lightfoot print left room for others to step in. ayman al zawahiri, al qaeda's leader in 2011, dispatche